Pressure relief valve



SCPL 17 1940. us I 2,214,963"

PRESSURE RELIEF YALVE Filed Jan. 16, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I INVENTOR. ,4/ber/ f. Jur-s 7 ATTORNEY. I

FIE E Patented Se 17, 1940 f 7 Panasonic l'lhis invention'relatesgenerally devices for automatically relieving gas or' vapor pressures,

such as may accumulate' in gas" or "vapor sys tems; Bucl'rdevioes arefuseiulin connectionwlth pressure receiverso'r 'storage tanksfsuch as" storage containing votatile liquids like gasoline for other "petroleum iractions,and "wherethe 'pressurei within the -tankj-m'ust'be relieved tively sensitive in responding topthe attainment tively high'magnitude upon the main valve member, in retaining the, main valve member closed a oi-a predetermined gasprssure, but which will be, characterized by appllcationofforcesoi rela- ,a. nd-,in movingit ,toopen position. In the form ot the invention disclosed herein, the forces ED? plied, to the main-valve memberare adequate under alladverse climatic conditions to which the deviceumay' be subjected, even though accumulations oilce may tend to bond the main member, toits seat, 1

valve Anotherobject'o! the invention istoprovide a pressure reliei device or valverwhichwill be characterized by positive openihgandclosing movements,- in respondingto predetermined pressure ychang'eaf 'Thusrwhen :the'main ,valve has been opened in response to a predetermined pressure on the inlet side, it does'nottend to assume such I intermediate positions as to throttle or partially t tthegasnow. Anoth'er object of the, invention isto provideza tem-1o: h r a r t vm a t ns 'which willpbe an improvement overdevices previously for, such purposes, particularly with climaticiiconditions, and 7 positive reliable. opera- Referring tothe drawings:

' fllflg. 1 is a side elevational view, in-crosssection, illustratin'ga device incorporating the pres- "ent invention. v a a,

11g. 2 is 'a side elevational viewjot the same deviceshownfin Fig. 1, turned through'90, and partly! crosssection. v

'Thatfliorm oi the device illustrated in the drawings consists of. ahollow Illa, provided with merb emnrrLa a an outlet opening "gas relief .a device, or valve suitable ior with- 1 t2. Where 'the device is ued with a storage tank containing petroleum fractions, the outlet I {may connect-to a vapor recovery system",jor'may discharge directly to the atmosphere, Within the valvefbody'there is-a main valve member-l3, 5

' which normally rests [upon an annular valve seat ll'." In-"order 't'o" guide the valve member llin verticalmovements between open and closed positions, it is attached to' a guide'rod I 6, the ,g

' "lowerend oi which is slidablyrengaged bythe guide bearing II. This bearing in'tum can be carried by radial webs". The-lower surface oi valve member I3,uwhich"contactsthe upper face oathe/seat ring l4, can-be rfa ced' with a ;removable ring-l9, formed ofrsuitable material such as Duprene or, like resilient synthetic rubber,

A characteristic of the main valve and its associated seat, is that the cross-sectional area of,

"the, openinB through the valve seat is ;'much .greater than-the cross-sectional areapresented by the inlet opening Ii. The purpose-oi this .arrangement whichis contrary to conventional practice, is-toenable the main valve member to present a relatively large area tothe gas pressure. on the inlet side oi-the device. I Thus for a-given. gas pressure upon the inlet side, the gas will exert i'orce oi relatively high magnitude tending to urge the valve member towards op'enposition. A.ssociated,.with the main valve member i1 7 there is a diaphragm 20 which is acted upon by ,fluid pressure; to normally holdnown the main I valve member against its seat. Thus a guide rod 30,. which is aligned with guide, rod Ila; is h attached to the center of a disc'jl. .Since this disc may be of a relatively-large -diameter,-'-it is 1 shown dished and reinforced; by the ribs 22 The. ,peripheryfof this disc is attached to'a flexible annular diaphragmportion 23, For the purpose gxrorming gas chambers fl and upon the 40 upper and lower sides oiv the diaphragm, additionalbody sections Illb and We, are shownlassembled upon the main body section I 0a.,Section lob aflords awall 21 extending below, the

diaphrag'mlland forms a guide bearing for: the guide rod 30. Section Mciorms-a wall, extending' ioverthe upper side of thediaphragm Ill. Chamber 26 is vented to the atmosphere, or to some othersuitable source of gas atrelatively low pressure, through the screened fitting 3|. Chamber 14 is, in communication with a duct; 33, which as will be presently explained,'is. normally in communication with the inlet- -sideoi' the device, whereby. inlet pressureis applied to the upper side of thediaphragm to normally hold- I downthemain valve member I! in closed position.

Pilot valve means, responsive to pressure on the inlet side of the device, is provided iorventing gas pressure in chamber 24. In the representative construction illustrated, parts of this pilot valve means are associated with the rm! 4 llld, which is mounted upon the body part llc,

and also with the plate lie, whichserves as a closure extending across the ring Ind- Thus I mounted upon the cover llethere is apilo't. valve body 36', within which is disposed the pilotvalve member '31. The valve body 86, in conjunctionf with a part or the cover ille, forms the three spaces or compartments II, It and 4!. Compartments 38 and 38 can be placed in communir cation through the valve seat, while "compart- I ments 3!. and 40 can be placed in communica-g tion through the seat 42. Pilot .valveimember 81 cooperates with both seats 42 and; being .providedwith.a'lowerlvalve portion 314 for en-. 7

gaging seat 42, andanraupper valve-portion-I'lb tion, through seat 42. Conversely" when valve portion 31a ,closes upon seat 42, compartments v2! and 40 are placed in communication,

- Before describing the various'fluid connections .to the compartments 38, it and 40,'the so-called secondary diaphragm will be described, together with its mechanical connection to'the'pilot valve member; Thus inthe space aflorded above wall 28, there. isa secondary diaphragm; which canbe substantially smaller in diameter-than the main operating diaphragm 20. This diaphragm can be formed of the rigid plates 41,

which are shown clamped upon opposite sides ofthe flexible diaphragm portion 48. The peripheral margin of; this flexible diaphragm portion, isshown clamped-between the body parts "Id and lie. Plates .4! are secured to the lower -end-ot a guiderod". whichin' turnextends .45

21, can be formed as follows: Above the upper end of rod 48 there is a lever 56, which has a fulcrum mounting 51 upon the pilot valve body it. A weight "is adiustably mountedupon the long arm or this lever. The short arm-carries a set screw ",the lowerendof which engages the upper. end of the pilotvalve stem 6|. A light compression spring 62 is associated with the pilot valve stem, in order to normally bias the pilot valve member to its elevated position as illustrated in the drawings. lever 58 is also connected'to the-upper end of'the rodf48, through link it. A bracket 84 canbe provided for generally guiding lever it. and tor-limiting the lowermost position oi weight 5|. 7

The various fluid connections'can now be describedas rollows: A pipe BI is connected to the inlet side or the device and establishes communication with'the chamber ll, below the secondary diaphragm 4!. Also pipe 85 is in continuous communication with the compartment ll through pipe 1.: Compartment 38' or the pilot valveit is not uncommon (or iceiormation to of somewhat larger'di'ameter, for cooperating ,with seat". when portion 31b, isvclosed upon seat 48, as illustrated in the drawin then compartments Stand 38 are placed in: communica-' pilot'valve member 31- iszmoved' to its second or ,.'o,a14,oos t J a means connects with pipe is, which in turn tom municatesthrough the duct 38 with the chamber 24, above the diaphragm 2!. Compartment 4!] is either in communication with the atmos-" ,phere through port", or instead, of venting 8 through the atmosphere, this compartment can beconnected device.- p a J Operation'oi the device can now be reviewed as follows: It will be presumed that by a suit- I able setting 'oiqweight LII, the device ,fhas.b n

adjusted. to cause, opening of the main valve member, when the pressure on theinlet side has attained a value oi. say 4 pounds per squareinchL While the pressure on the'inlet sideis below 4 1 pounds per square inch, pilot valve mlember 31 -'is"in'itsfelevated position illustrated in the draw-p by pipe I I to the outflow side of the ing, and inlet gas pressure is, transmitted through pipe II and is impressed not only upon the lower .sideor'the diaphragm 48, but also through'pipe t'l, compartment 2|, compartment 19, :and pipe I, to the chamberi24, to:cause; thevdiaoh asm so to be urged downwardly to securely holddown the mainvalve member;ligagainst the seat '14.

when the inlet pressure. increasestoa value oi-i.

4: pounds per squareinch, the pressure, upon the secondary diaphragm 48 is sufflcient tomo've diaphragm 1; upwardly with :the result that; the c lowermost operating position. .When this occurs 9 the chamber 24 above the main diaphragm]. is

vented to :the'atmosphere, through pipe and communicating. compartments a: and a as pipe" is used, gas irom'chamber 24'is vented to the outflow-side of the device, which-is'at a' substantiallylower pressure than" the pressure of the inflow side. *Thus immediate reduction of. pressure in chamber permits the pressure acting upwardly upon the lower side of the valve member it; to elevate'this valve-member to open position; The movement'-'ot-the"'main valve'member :lt'is relativelyabrupt, and there is no-tendency for itto take an interniediate throttling position, due to the relatively'la'rgo l area presented by the lower side to the sure, and due to thesudden reduction ole-pr, 'sure in chamber-24.-

pressure on the side of the regulator is again'reducedto'fa Assuming now that the slightly below 4 pounds per square inch, reduce-.60

tionof pressurednthe chamber I3 belowidia-i "phragm 46, permits the diaphragm 44 tovmovef downwardly.. Thus weight I! drops back to its initial positioni'and pilot valve-member's] 'u 51 value returned towardsthe normal position in Figs. 1 andf 2. This servesto apply} inlet gasv I pressure to the chamber as, with the jupon itsseat.

' Reference has been 'made ;;to

large size of the valve'iseat l4 and, the me "diaphragm "proves downwardlyf'afid b siflvelyjrf 7 closes the main 'valveumembei" the relatively do by the lower face of the main valvejmember; In" 6' my device this area is'calculatedsothatior 'a given pressure'of operation, the:.-upwardiorce upon. the main valve sui lcient ftobreak away any ice formation, suchas i'mayitend bond the valve member i'ast upon its t feature is of particularodva'ntage-in connectionwith storage tanks i'or petroleum (fractions. I where the, pressure relief device may be jected to extreme climatic conditions. and whjer 2,214,9asb J 3 the main valve member upon its seat. With my device anample 'factoroi saiety is afforded, so

that irrespective ofany iceiormation, the main valve member is positively moved to open posi- ,tion, at the pre-determined pressure of operation for which-the device has been adjusted.

It has been pointed out that under normal conditions,,with the main valve member closed,

the diaphragm '20 exerts considerable pressure in forcing the 'main valve member upon its seat.

Aside from the manner in which this .feature is utilized to cause positive opening movement,

normal holding down of themain valve is desirable in that it tends to insure a tight seal 5 with respect to the valve seat,'irrespective of any slight amount of warping to which the main valve member may be subjected.

1. Inya' gas pressure relief valve or the type 20 having a main valve and a pilot valve for controlling the operation of said main valve, the

, combination of av'alve body having inflow and outflow openings, a valve seat within said valve 1 body above said inflowopening, a main valve 5 of the disc type adapted to close upon the upper side of said valveseat, a stem depending from said mainvalve, saidmain valve having a central opening and-said stem having a reducedportion received in said opening and projecting above 3 the top face of said main, valve, means securing saidi'stemto said main valve, means forming a vertical guide for said stem to guide the main valve during its movement in opposite diretlons between closed and open positions, a flexible dia- 35 phragm mounted in said valve body above said main valve, a rod connected with said diaphragm,

and extending toward said main valve, a vertical guide for guiding said rod, the lower end of said ,rod normally having abutting engagement with 0 the upper end of said stem, whereby when said diaphragm is pressed downwardly said main 55 efl'ective cross-sectional area of the opening in saidannular valve seat being substantially,

greater than the efl'ectivecross-sectional area of said inflow opening, a main valve of the disc type 'adaptedto close upon said annular valve 60 seat, andgas pressure means providingethe sole means for maintaining said main valve closed. the flow of gas to said gas pressure means beingcontrolled by said pilot valve.

3. In a gas pressure relief valve of the type having a main valve and a pilot valve for con- 3 trolling the operation of said main valve, the combination of a valve body having inflow and outflow openings, a valve seat within said valve body above said, inflow opening, the elective cross-sectional area of the opening in said valve 10 seat being substantially greater than the eflec-, tive cross-sectional area of said inflow opening,

a main valve of the disc type adapted to close upon the upper side of said-valve seat, means forming a vertical guide for said main valve to guide the same during its movement in opposite directions betweenclosed and open positions,

a flexible diaphragm mounted in said valve body above said main valve, means interposed between said diaphragm and said main valve for enabling said diaphragm to influence the opening and closingoi said main valve, means forming a pressure chamber above said flexible diaphragm, and passage means for conducting gas under pressure to said pressure chamber, said gas pressure being the sole means for maintaining the main valve seated, the flow of gas through said passage means to said pressure chamber being controlled by said pilot valve. 7 4. In a gas pressure relief valve oi the type so having a main valve and a pilot valve for controlling the operation of said main valve, the combination of: a valve body having inflow and outflow openings, a valve seat within said valve I phragm and extending toward said main valve,

a vertical guide for guiding said rod, the lower end of said rod normally having abutting engagement with said main valve,"whereby when w said diaphragm is pressed downwardly said main valve will be urged into engagement with its seat, means forming a pressure chamber above said flexible diaphragm andpassage means for conducting gas under pressure to said pressure chamber, said gas pressure being the sole means for maintaining the main valve seated, the flow of gas through said passage means to said pressure chamber being controlled by said pilot valve.

ALBERT E. JURB. 0 

